


It Takes All of Arcadia to Raise a Troll

by Internal_Screaming



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: All the time, Blinky and Arg find Jim, Gen, Half troll baby Jim au, He’s not blood related to Barbara, JIM DOES CUTE SHIT, Jim is a crawling disaster, Mostly Fluff, and also like 2 or something, and are his new dads, and they fight for custody, angor shows up too, but Walter and Barbara find him too, hes so cute tho, his mom and dad may have their own chapter??, jim is half troll, my son - Freeform, nobody can stay mad at him., to explain what happened??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-06-13 13:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15366108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Internal_Screaming/pseuds/Internal_Screaming
Summary: Jim is a half Troll youngling no older than a year, who gets adopted by two Troll dads, a market of trolls, two changlings and a human. The problem is that Jim tends to be a crawling disaster and draws trouble with everything he does.But he also does a lot of very adorable things to melt everyone’s heart.





	1. Adoption

**Author's Note:**

> THIS IS GONNA BE ADORABLE BECAUSE THIS KID IS A PURE CINNAMON ROLL WHO ALSO IS AN IDIOT. I love him.
> 
> Also, I like the idea that trolls call their kids ‘younglings’ so that’s I’m calling them.

Blinky stopped when he heard something odd, like some sort of crying coming from the dumpster in the alley they were looking through. Arg also heard the noise, perking up and looking around in confusion as he abandoned the trash he gathered. “What in the blazes is that?” Blinky asked, looking at the dumpster that was the source of the noise. Possibly it was a goblin who got itself trapped under some garbage? But goblins didn’t sound like that, even when they cried out. This sounded more troll, the wailing almost as if it were in pain. Maybe a troll got stuck in the dumpster? It wouldn’t be the first time it had happened, but it was the first time Blinky had ever heard a troll wail like that. “Arg! Can you see if a troll managed to get themselves stuck in the dumpster again?” Blinky asked his friend.

Arg sniffed at the dumpster, confusion clear on his face as he looked back at Blinky. “Not smell right,” Arg rumbled before looking into the big green bin. Blinky watched as his friends eyes widened in surprise before he leaned in, reaching both hands to grab whatever was in the dumpster. As Arg began to pull back out, Blinky noticed that the wailing had stopped the moment Arg leaned into the garbage. 

“Well Arg? Who is it?” Blinky asked, waddling forward to try and look.

Arg dropped back to the ground, but one arm was cradling something close to his chest, “Don’t know,” he said, looking at whatever he was holding that was hidden behind his large hand.

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know’? They should have recognizable features-!” Blinky began to rant as Arg finally revealed what he pulled out of the garbage, causing Blinky to stop his rant as his heart seemed to stop.

In the larger troll’s hand, was a smaller troll. A much smaller troll. A small troll that looked kind of... odd. Blinky’s first thought was changling, as those were the few trolls he saw as small as this. But the features didn’t match a changling, changlings had a more slim form compared to a troll’s bulkier build. While this smaller troll didn’t have the same bulky build as most trolls, it was still bulky enough to not be a changling. Yet it couldn’t be possible!

Youngling troll’s were rare, and Blinky hadn’t seen one in centuries. It was possible that was why he didn’t recognize it when he first saw him though, after so long the appearances could vary. Full grown trolls don’t usually have many younglings anymore, both from the fear of Gunmar and his son that still roamed the streets of Arcadia, but also because it was very difficult to conceive younglings. The young troll himself was a medium grey blue, the tuffs of fur on his head, elbows, back and tail were a darker shade, and bright blue marks similar to the Krubera’s covered his body, glowing and shimmering in the dark. Dark curved horns similar to Blinky’s poked through the hair on his head, in which they looked way too big for his head. His eyes were a very brilliant blue though, glowing in the dark like his markings as he watch Blinky, clawed fingers shoved halfway into his mouth. 

Suddenly he opened his mouth and wailed again, but then it curved into a shriek and then a fit of giggles as he kicked his legs and reached out for Blinky, his tail wagging so hard that it was shaking his entire body. Feeling obliged to pick up the youngling after witnessing all that, he felt his old heart melt as the youngling giggled even more and reached for his hair as he picked him out of Arg’s hand and held him against his chest. One of the younglings hands gripped the strap of his overalls as he continued to giggle and look around in wonder. “Arg I... we can’t just leave him here or the sunlight will get him!” Blinky tried explaining rationally. Arg’s soft smile saw right through his excuse though.

“Youngling needs home. Needs family,” he simply said.

“So you agree we should take him back to Troll Market?” Blinky confirmed, trying not to get distracted by the younglings babbling.

“Yes,” Arg heartily laughed.

“What’s so funny? I’m just trying to do what is best for this troll!” Blinky stuttered.

“Surrrrre,” Arg chuckled, not hiding a soft look at the youngling who was now blowing spit bubbles and getting drool all over Blinky’s back.

“I have to wonder who would leave a troll youngling all alone out here! You would think that his parents would never abandon a youngling!” Blinky huffed angrily.

“Maybe not abandoned. Maybe... gone...” Arg sadly suggested.

Blinky’s anger quickly faded, realizing how possible Arg’s suggestion was. Bular was known to still be out among the streets, and the Trollhunter couldn’t always be everywhere. His parents could have tried to hide him while they led any enemies away, but then failing to survive the trip back. Either way, this youngling was now alone and needed someone to take care of him. “Should we have taken him from that dumpster? What if his parents come back?! And they can’t find him! Oh Arg, are we trollnappers?!” Blinky began to panic, realizing that the youngling could have been in that bin for a reason and he may now have an angry troll mother on his heels.

Arg shook his head, “younglings know. Cry not because scared. Cry because alone...”

Blinky’s brow furrowed in thought, the depressing topic not exactly making a good conversation with the youngling they now carried with them. “Well, we can’t just keep calling him youngling! He needs a name!”

“Arg jr!” Arg grinned.

“Arg, we both know if he was going to be a jr, it’s going to be Blinky Jr!” Blinky bit back.

Arg laughed again, looking at the young troll even closer as to try and get an idea. That’s when he spotted something white poking out of the fur on his back. “Blinky, white thing,” Arg pointed to it, his hands too big to properly grab the small item.

Looking closer, Blinky saw it as well and was able to pull it out to take a look at it. He recognized it as white parchment paper, a string drawn through a hole and wrapping around the younglings neck. He never noticed before because of the massive amount of fluff the youngling had wrapping around his neck, chest and back.

Being careful as to not choke the young troll, he leaned closer to the paper to read the messy trollish scrawl written on it, pretending not to notice the dark red-ish splotch on the corner. He read it out loud so Arg heard him as well. “Take care of Jim,” he read. Blinky frowned, whoever wrote this knew that they wouldn’t be able to return for their youngling. Even more, the troll words were written in a way that the writer seemed unfamiliar with the language, the grammar slightly off and the symbols messy. Was this younglings name Jim? An odd name, it didn’t sound trollish at all. More human than anything.

A small snore escaped the youngling and Blinky looked at him with a start, not realizing that the young troll had fallen asleep.

The youngling had managed to nudge himself under Blinky’s chin and was now softly snoring. With a hesitant hand, Blinky carefully patted the young troll’s back in hopes of comforting him. His heart swelled when he heard an even softer purr erupt from the small one.

By the time they made it back to the bridge, the sky was getting dangerously light, but they had to move slowly as to not wake the youngling. He suddenly realized he didn’t have much of an idea as to how the rest of Troll Market would react to the youngling they brought back, surely they wouldn’t just kick him out and leave him for Bular to find?

Of course not! If anything, Blinky would be sure to convince everyone that a youngling is just what they need in these dark times! He flashed a determined look to Arg before standing back and letting Arg open the entranceway to Troll Market. “If that note says that Jim is his name, then we should respect his late parents wishes. We will raise him as our own and make sure he grows up to be a fine young troll!” Blinky nodded.

“Little Jim,” Arg agreed, stepping through the now open entrance to Troll Market. Blinky quickly followed, prepared to face whatever judgement he may face from the others.

He expected some trolls to protest, to tell him that he could be a spy for Gunmar. He even expected Vendel to make some sort of protest and tell him to put it back where they found it. It was easy to doubt Blinky’s judgment as his reputation wasn’t exactly the best in the Market, but he wasn’t prepared to be swarmed by the other trolls. Other trolls who took a single took at the youngling and melted at the sight of Jim, who was still asleep under Blinky’s chin, one hand still gripping his pant straps and the other gripped against his chest. Based on his markings, Blinky guessed that the youngling was trying to grab at fur similar to Arg’s that was common among the Kurbera. But Jim settled for Blinky’s strap.

“Where in the world did you find this youngling!” Bagdwella cried, her hands pressed against her cheeks as she admired the small troll. “You better not have stolen him from the Kurbera!” She hissed, noticing his marks. “Younglings are rare nowadays and a troll would do anything to protect them!”

“That is not the case here Bagdwella,” Blinky carefully spoke. “Arg and I found this youngling while searching for some food. We believe his parents have fallen victim to Bular’s wrath.”

All the trolls gathered around them gasped, “surely the trollhunter would have protected them?”

“If they were travellers, then the Trollhunter would have had no knowledge of them and therefore would not have known to account for them,” Blinky said with a small shake of his head as to not disturb Jim.

The trolls then began to mutter amongst themselves, curious as to who the parents could have been. Arg gave a worried glance at Blinky, if Jim was of Kurbera decent, then the parents could have came from the colony that was deeper underground. Even more, they may try to come up and claim Jim to take back with them. 

Yet Jim didn’t seem to be fully Kurbera, which was more than enough reason to keep him in Troll Market as the Kurbera preferred pure blooded trolls among their ranks. Now that he thought about it, it was entirely possible that a Kurbera left their colony for another troll, then went solo with that other troll until they came across Bular.

A tragic tale.

“What is all this commotion about!” Vendel’s voice rose above the rest and he pushed himself through the crowd. “I am trying to get a decent amount of sleep and I can’t do it when most of Troll Market is babbling about who knows what!”

Blinky suddenly began to fear for Jim’s safety, Vendel was quite strict about his rules with Troll Market, but he would allow refugees Trolls to live here if they needed. And Jim was surely a refugee who needed shelter?

Vendel stopped in front of Blinky, then let his gaze lower to the youngling he held close to his chest. Vendel blinked when he seemed to recognize Jim for what he is, but remained quiet as he continued to stare. Blinky felt sweat begin to bead on his forehead, unsure of what Vendel’s judgment would be. “What,” Vendel began, “is that?”

Blinky swallowed the lump in his throat before he managed to form together words, “w-well! Um... Vendel. This here! Is... uh, Jim! His name is Jim! And-and he... er... well he is alone and... we found him... alone I might add! He’s... he’s a youngling, and... he needs a home...”

Vendel narrowed his eyes as he leaned closer to the youngling, “so his parents are no where to be found?” Blinky frowned, then slowly lifted the tag that was still around the younglings neck towards their leader.

“The tag says to take care of him... I believe that... that his parents knew they wouldn’t be able to care for him any longer...” Blinky trailed off, looking up at the old troll.

Vendel sniffed, but turned around and headed back through the crowd, “he may stay, he looks and smells troll and the Kurbera would never leave their sanctuary unless they had a reason, especially if they had a youngling, so I can only guess he is just half Kurbera. Be sure to tell the Trollhunter so he knows to watch for younglings and I trust that you will be the ones caring for him.”

“Of-! Of course! Arg and I will make sure to take care of everything!” Blinky exclaimed, unsure if this was all going too well or if Vendel was just messing with him.

“I haven’t seen a youngling in centuries...” Vendel muttered, which Blinky barely managed to catch as the elder walked away. He didn’t sound annoyed though, in fact he sounded almost... giddy about it.

Jim sneezed in his sleep, causing Blinky to draw his attention back to the youngling as the other Trolls cooed and awed at his sneeze. 

A youngling was indeed just what Troll Market needed.


	2. Meeting New Trolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first few days after finding Jim, Blinky and Arg figure out how to properly care for the young troll. 
> 
> Then Jim meets the Trollhunter.
> 
> Afterwards, Jim then manages to find Vendel as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter, it’s mostly a set of three little drabbles of Jim in Trollmarket and the interactions of him and some other trolls.
> 
> Next up, Jim gets in more trouble than he bargained for.

Jim wailed, flailing his arms as sloppy tears covered his face. He had been crying like this for nearly half an hour, and Blinky and Arg were very close to throwing something off a cliff at this point. In fact, most of Troll Market was ready to jump off that cliff. Neither of the two knew what exactly Jim wanted, they thought maybe he was scared when waking up in a new place, but the blanket they threw over his head only made his shrieking worse. Then they tried giving him some old youngling toys they found deep in storage, which included wooden swords, a set of four large linked rings, clawing sticks, and other outdated troll toys. Jim tossed all of those over his head with a pouted look on his face, then continued to wail. Finally, Blinky suggested he could be hungry, as it had probably been some time since he ate. Yet the year old socks they tried to give him were just met with more tears and shrieks.

Socks were a troll delicacy! How could little Jim turn down such an incredibly tasty item? It was possible that troll taste changed as they got older, so both Blinky and Arg tried many other things. Anything cat related was rejected, same went with anything plastic. Jim DID show interest in the silverware they gave him, but when he didn’t chew off anything right away, Blinky decided to investigate as to why he was showing no interest in anything they gave him. Maybe he chipped a fang and now it was hurting?

Trying to be careful as to not hurt the youngling, he nudged his mouth open a little wider as Jim continued to cry, now armed with a fork. “What in the-!” Blinky yelped, “Jim here doesn’t have any teeth!” 

“What?” Arg gasped, moving closer to take a look. “No fangs to eat?”

“It appears so!” Blinky huffed, backing away and sitting on the ground. “No wonder he’s not eating anything! He can’t eat anything we give him!”

Jim shrieked, falling to his side then continued crying as he dropped the fork.

“What feed him then?” Arg asked, scratching at the makeshift earplugs in his ears. 

“Well it has to be soft. Probably mushy. Maybe a liquid of some sort works as well! Oh I don’t know! I feel like this has to do with whatever half of him that isn’t Kurbera! But I can’t think of a Troll without teeth! Or anything about their younglings without teeth!” Blinky yelled. Jim’s continuous crying was starting to twist some nerves. “Everything a Troll eats is hard! Meant to be broken by troll teeth! What could Jim possibly eat without them?”

Arg suddenly perked up, then ran off, leaving Blinky in the dust as he squawked in annoyance, “Arg? Where are you going? Arg! He’s your responsibility as well!” But it was too late, the larger troll was well gone and Blinky was left with Jim. Jim stopped crying when he saw Arg leave, but only for that second as he quickly went back to crying, his wailing somehow got even louder than before. 

How this kid has such strong lungs baffled Blinky, he could barely yell for five minutes before hacking his own lungs out, much less shriek at the top of his lungs for half an hour. He couldn’t think properly with all this noise, he knew Jim needed food but it was so hard to think of something that he may like when there was constant screaming in the background. 

Like a blessing from the heavens, Arg reappeared and lumbered quickly towards Jim, something new in his hand. Crouching over the youngling, he revealed a jar and popped open the lid before handing it to Jim. Jim stopped crying as he grabbed at the jar and sniffed the contents of it, then with an excited squeak he dug his little hand into it and shovelled the contents into his mouth hungrily.

Both Blinky and Arg collapsed to the floor with a huff, mentally exhausted from Jim’s breakdown and the stress of trying to find something he could eat and therefore stop the crying. “What in the world did you give him?” Blinky asked almost breathlessly, looking over to his friend.

“Apple sauce,” Arg panted. “Soft. Mushy.”

“Isn’t that human food though?” Blinky asked, confused as to why Jim would want that.

Arg nodded. “Arg once found human youngling. No teeth. Brought to human place and moved on. Realized human youngling have no teeth, get later.”

“Arg... are you saying that Jim here is... half human?” Blinky asked as he looked to the youngling whose face was now slathered in apple sauce. “But... that can’t be possible? He looks more troll than human! A changling looks more human in their troll form!” Blinky gasped.

“Extra fingers. Don’t like socks. Odd nose, no fangs,” Arg listed. “Half human.”

“I... I guess you are right. I can’t think of any other troll with those features. Or taste. Well... unless he’s half changling?” Blinky suddenly thought.

Arg looked at him at surprise, “changling does like human food...”

Blinky frowned again, crossing both sets of arms and he growled in annoyance, “but we can never figure that out! We don’t know much about who his parents were or what happened to them and we have no way in figuring that out!”

“Jim knows,” Arg said.

“But he’s a youngling! He doesn’t even speak!” Blinky exclaimed.

“We don’t need to know,” Arg tried arguing instead.

“Of course we do! How do we know what is right from wrong? What is safe and not safe?” Blinky cried before placing his face in his four hands. “I want to do what is best for Jim! But I don’t know how to do that!”

Before Arg could speak, Jim slapped his dirty, sticky hands on Blinky’s leg and pulled himself onto the older Troll’s lap. He sat in a way that was mimicking the way Arg sat and smiled brightly up at the two of them, his face still covered in the apple sauce he ate.

Arg laughed as tears were brought to Blinky’s eyes at the sheer amount of pure that radiated off of the young troll.

“Trial and error,” Arg laughed. 

Blinky nodded, wiping away the tears from his eyes, “trial and error it is. Guess we are going to see how well Jim reacts to water. He’s getting that apple sauce all over my pants.” With that being said, Blinky picked up the youngling, ignoring the fact that he was also getting apple sauce all over himself as well, and made their way down to the underground river.

—————————

Jim had taken to mimicking Arg, in more ways than one. He would walk the same way, though his tail would be held high and wag slightly. He would sit like Arg, but kick his legs around and make more noise than Arg. He even tried to speak like Arg, despite just managing to produce a string of meaningless babbles. Every time he mimicked Arg, Jim would always look to Arg either to confirm he was copying him correctly or for approval. Either way, he always seemed to be satisfied. Blinky felt a little jealous though, he would also like it if Jim were to mimic him in some way.

Today, they took him to the Heroes Hall to allow Jim some space to run around rather than get under other troll’s feet, since the Trollhunter rarely used it nowadays. Blinky also planned on telling some stories about the Trollhunters to Jim, mainly to try and teach him the history of trolls.

“Blinky? Arg? What are you two doing here?” Kanjigar’s voice echoed in the hall. 

Blinky turned to see the Trollhunter himself, surprised to see him in the forge, “Kanjigar! I thought you were out patrolling Arcadia!”

“It’s quiet this night, I thought some practice would be good while the night is still quiet! Where have you been friend? I haven’t seen you for a few days! I was worried you were avoiding me!” Kanjigar laughed. “Your advice is one of the best I get, I start to doubt myself when you get quiet!”

“Well, Arg and I have been preoccupied with a... how should I say... well, a youngling we found,” Blinky explained, stepping aside to reveal the small blue troll who looked up at the Trollhunter with big eyes. Kanjigar seemed taken aback as he looked down at Jim, as if stuck on deciding how to react. “This is Jim. I have been meaning to tell you in case Jim managed to sneak out somehow... he’s half Kurbera and half... something else,” Blinky poorly explained.

“He... looks a lot like Drall when he was little...” Kanjigar whispered, mostly to himself. Kneeling down to Jim’s level, he tried to get a better look at the youngling.

“Jim, this is Kanjigar the Courageous, our Troll-“ 

Jim squealed loudly and bolted forward, causing both Blinky and Arg to squawk in fear at his sudden movement. Jim lowered his head as he ran and slammed it right into Kanjigar’s head at full force, but the small troll was no match for the Trollhunter’s strength or size, stopping him right in his tracks as Kanjigar just stared in surprise. The sudden stop caused by the headbutt led to Jim’s back end flipping up slightly before he fell backwards and was sent rolling over himself backwards a few times until he finally stopped, lying flat on his back. 

Everyone stared at the youngling, Blinky and Arg partially out of fear that the little troll would start wailing again and they would have to face that hell again. But Jim only squealed with laughter as he flailed his arms before flipping back onto four legs and going at it again. This time he got Kanjigar’s leg since the Trollhunter stood up and was bellowing a hearty laugh. “Filled with fighting spirit I see! Just like Draal!” He laughed. “And he doesn’t give up either! You two found yourself quite the handful, now didn’t you?” He heavy patted Jim’s head as he continued to laugh, “I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for this youngling if he ever manages to sneak out!”

With that, he walked back out still laughing, as if imaging all the future trouble that Jim could get into, or remembering how Draal was when he was just a youngling and knowing exactly what Blinky and Arg has gotten themselves into. Blinky and Arg could only watch him leave in confusion before looking down at Jim, who was goofily grinning back up at them. 

—————————

Vendel flipped the page to his book, the human scrawl was messy and sometimes hard to understand, but they did have a very vast imagination when it came to creating fictional works. So vast that lately, he had found some stories that were quite intriguing despite being written by a human. The stories revolved around the idea that old human concepts of god existed and still exist in the modern age, in which a son of one of those gods was then dragged into their mess and had to do many heroic quests to save the world. That character in the story was also very sarcastic, which intrigued Vendel to read more. 

The only problem with these books was that none of them were trollish, so it was a slow process in reading them. Yet he still enjoyed them, even if it did take him some time to finish one book and then find the next. 

He heard something scuttle behind him, so he quickly closed his book and looked over his shoulder. Only to spot the youngling that Blinky and Arg had found a few days beforehand looking up at him with big curious eyes. Vendel frowned, looking around the rest of his chamber to see if the two adopted parents were anywhere in sight. When he couldn’t find them, he looked back at where the youngling was but noticed that he was gone as well. With one last scan around his chambers, he shrugged and went back to reading his book.

Only... the youngling was now sitting BETWEEN his arms and IN FRONT OF HIS BOOK. How in the world this youngling managed to get there without him noticing, he hadn’t a clue. But Vendel was no younglingsitter and he wasn’t about to become one. 

With an annoyed huff, he picked the little one up and placed him back onto the ground, “go back to your caretakers!” He growled, then went back to reading his book.

“Bah.”

Vendel looked down at the youngling again, raising an eyebrow to his noise. “What? You want something? Whatever it is, I’m not getting it for you,” Vendel rolled his eyes. But the youngling seemed unfazed as he looked blankly up at Vendel, as if trying to place how he should react to him.

Vendel frowned, then using his foot, nudged the youngling a little farther away from him. Then with a satisfied grunt, turned back to his book once again.

Only he was distracted by a scuttling from the spot where he pushed the youngling, and couldn’t help but look over to see what he could be doing. 

The youngling wasn’t there anymore, and Vendel looked around his chambers once again only to spot him in front of the book AGAIN somehow, causing Vendel to shout in surprise and stumble back. Jim just looked back at him in confusion as Vendel huffed out of confusion and annoyance. “Where in the world do you keep coming from? Go back to Blinky or Arg!”

The youngling only continued to stare at him instead of responding, then looked at his book he left behind, then at the old troll again.

Then, he lifted up both his arms, made a grabbing motion with his hands, and grunted, “Auh!”

Vendel tried staying mad at the youngling, in all honestly he wanted nothing more than to be mad and just kick the youngling out of his chambers and continue reading.

But the look in Jim’s eye and the way he continued to hold up his arms... he wasn’t strong enough to resist. With an incredibly long, and heavy sigh, he gave in.

He picked up the small troll who quickly grabbed onto the fur around his neck with one hand and placed the other on Vendel’s arm that held him. Vendel then reached down and picked up his book and sat back down, “so... you want to hear the story I’m reading?” He asked. Jim looked up at him and squeaked with a smile, giving Vendel enough of an answer as he turned back to the book. “Well, I’ll read it out loud then. It’s easier to read English out loud anyhow,” Vendel reasoned. “Might as well start at the beginning as well. So you can understand the story, I don’t mind that much anyway. I wasn’t that far in yet.” Vendel flipped to the start of the book, noticing Jim was now focusing his attention on the open book with big, wondrous eyes. “This chapter is called ‘I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom’...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now Blinky and Arg have some idea of Jim’s origins, but will still have multiple surprises ahead of them.
> 
> Distant uncle Kanjigar and Grandpa Vendel! 
> 
> Vendel isn’t about to let anyone know that he was nice to the youngling.
> 
> I wonder how many people will realize what book Vendel is reading before he says the title of the first chapter of it.


	3. Walking on Sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barbara Lake and Walter Stricklander have their morning coffee interrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHHOHOHOHO MORE PARENTS ARE BROUGHT INTO THE PICTURE

Blinky stormed loudly into Vendel’s chambers as he looked around desperately in a blind panic, the massive amount of noise waking Vendel with a start as he fell off his seat and fell to the ground with an ‘oof!’ “Vendel? Vendel have you seen Jim?” Blinky desperately asked, pacing around the chambers as he looked in every nook and cranny in the room, not even looking to his elder as he spoke.

Vendel rubbed his throbbing head and looked up in annoyance, huffing angrily as he got back into his seat. “In fact, I have. He wandered into here earlier and disturbed my peace, you should be keeping a closer eye on him!” Vendel growled.

“Well Arg and I may have been a bit... exhausted after trying to entertain him that we both... erm... collapsed... where is Jim now?” Blinky asked, calming down slightly as he thought Vendel may have an idea as to where Jim could be.

“Well he was here as I was reading to-“ Vendel stopped himself from finishing that sentence, clearing his throat as he came up with a supposedly different ending to his response-,”myself. He was here staring at me while I was reading to myself. I must’ve fallen asleep at some point as he isn’t here anymore.” 

Blinky began to panic again, “oh no... Arg and I have been looking everywhere in Troll Market... we asked shopkeepers, looked under stalls, we even tried to ask the gnomes! How long have you been sleeping? Maybe we can track traveling distance and time and make a radius and completely sweep that area...” 

“An hour maybe? I usually fall asleep when the sun rises, so that must’ve been when I dozed off...” Vendel yawned, still seeming more annoyed about his disturbed sleep.

“Oh dear, if Jim managed to find the entrance to Troll Market-!” Blinky exclaimed, then twisted on his heel and booked it towards the staircase, his heart fluttering with fear. Blinky tried to force himself to remain calm, it wasn’t like Jim could get out without the key crystal! Right! He would be stuck at the top, in the worst case he would maybe fall down the staircase but Trolls were hardy! He would survive the fall! He would probably roll all the way down as well!

Arg met with him as Blinky ran towards the Troll Market entrance, “last place to check,” Arg confirmed with Blinky.

“Exactly, and he should be cornered! Oh old friend I was worried my heart would give out from all this running and worrying!” Blinky laughed as they ran up the staircase. There was no possible way that Jim got out of Troll Market! He didn’t have the crystal, and it wasn’t like the youngling knew how to open the entranceway! Everything was going to be fine!

Except... there was nobody at the top. In fact, then entrance had just finished closing and sealed shut. Nobody should be leaving Troll Market at this hour, the sun was up and therefore everyone would be staying inside.

It couldn’t be possible...

“Arg, open the entranceway,” Blinky ordered, hoping that what he was theorizing on what happened was nothing more than that, a theory. Arg complied with little encouragement, quickly opening the entrance and stepping out into the shadow of the bridge. Both trolls quickly ran out of Troll Market and searched the shadowed area, then turned worried eyes to the sunlit areas, hoping they wouldn’t find anything there.

Blinky’s heart stopped when he did spot something, Jim sitting in the sunlight well out of reach of either troll, grief hitting him like a tsunami. He dropped to his knees and shook as everything seemed to close in on him, reality seeming unreal. This youngling, this pure, innocent troll was now gone... because Blinky couldn’t watch him for two seconds. He had failed before, the trollhunters he had trained falling too soon in battle. Close friends, faces he would never see again.

And now another, gone before he had a chance to see him grow, “I failed, Arg... I failed as I do time and time again! How will I ever face another troll again, knowing I will only fail them!” He wailed, shaking his head as he tugged at his hair.

“Blinky.”

“He didn’t know any better! How could a troll so young truly understand the dangers of light? We should’ve known to take shifts!”

“Blinky.”

“Now he’s gone! Gone like the rest! And it’s all my fault-!” Blinky cried before Arg cut him off harshly.

“Blinky! Jim not dead!” Arg barked as he shook Blinky with a heavy hand.

“Grief has made you blind,” Blinky whimpered. “A troll caught in the light is a dead troll...”

“Bah!”

“I’ve gone mad... I can still hear him babbling...” Blinky sniffed.

Arg rolled his eyes before forcing Blinky to look back at Jim, who was NOT stone despite bathing in the light. “Jim not stone!” 

“What?!” Blinky yelped, stumbling forward before stopping at the edge of the shadows. He looked at Jim, who had a key crystal in his mouth and was waving at Blinky with the other hand, then back at Arg. “Am I hallucinating?”

“Arg sees it too,” Arg shrugged. Blinky looked back at Jim before slowly extending his own hand towards the light, but the quick sting caused him to pull back before any damage was done.

“How in the blazes... he’s half human,” Blinky’s jaw dropped, “changling troll forms also suffer the consequences of sunlight, the only other option would be that Jim is half human, giving resistance to sunlight! A troll that can walk in daylight!” Blinky exclaimed. His cheerfulness didn’t last long though, “oh Merlin no, a youngling with the ability to walk, or crawl, in sunlight... we can’t get to him Arg!”

Arg frowned as he realized what Blinky was suggesting, “if human sees...”

“Who knows what might happen! We need to get him back into Troll Market!” Blinky quickly explained before turning back to Jim, who seemed extremely fascinated with the new world he just discovered. “Here Jim! Come to Blinky!” Blinky cooed, trying to catch the younglings attention. He clicked his tongue and clapped his hands, trying to get the youngling to look his way at the very least.

“Jim! Come back!” Arg cried as well, waving a massive hand to try and catch Jim’s eye, but the small troll seemed to almost be purposely ignoring them.

Blinky and Arg continued jumping around, waving their arms and making a variety of noises in attempt to get Jim to come back into the shadows. Eventually slowing down as it showed that Jim was not interested in anything they were doing.

Then Jim turned towards them, waved, and proceeded to crawl in the OPPOSITE direction of the pair, causing them both to cry out in distress. “Jim no! Come back!” Blinky desperately called, but it was too late as Jim disappeared over the edge of the ditch. “Oh Arg! What do we do?” Blinky whimpered.

Arg frowned, pausing before giving his answer, “Wait.”

————————

“It’s... it’s been really hard, you know?” Barbara sighed, tightly squeezing her coffee. “First he leaves, then it turns out to be a miscarriage... and it hurts to think that the problem was me!”

“He is blind if he sees you as the problem,” Stricklander soothed, shaking his head as he tried imagining what kind of person would leave a woman as beautiful and wonderful as this one. In all his years as a changling, this one human particularly caught his attention, she treated him as an equal. She was smart, and not afraid to speak her mind. They had grown quite close over the months, close enough for him to start debating either to tell her about his secret life. 

Before, her first lover was the main thing keeping her from him, as well as him spilling his secret. But the idiotic human left her and now he had an actual chance with her. Telling her about his troll half would only destroy what they had built so far, so for now he would wait like he always did.

Then that thing came trotting towards them. Stricklander noticed him first, mistaking him for a large, fat cat. “Thank you Walter... it’s just... it gets kind of lonely, you know? And with school and nursing, I don’t know when I’m going to meet someone else who wants to start a family. Especially when I won’t be young forever, but relationships can take time!”

Walter nodded, shifting his gaze away from the odd cat trotting towards them and focusing back on Barbara, “it’s understandable to be worried. Especially when you really want something as complex as a family, but fear by the time you get to it, it will be too late.” He took a risk, reaching forward and placing his hand on her hand, “but you are still young, you have plenty of time to do what you want and still have time left to start that family. This is nothing more but a small hiccup in your life, you will be able to get to where you want to be.” She didn’t pull her hand away, and smiled up at him. 

“I know... you are really good at this advice stuff. I just think... the main problem was that I was really excited, when I discovered that I pregnant. All I could think about was being a mother, then when... he left. I only focused on that, being a mother, and it made me feel better. Then... it wasn’t meant to be, and I felt like I just failed... now there’s a hole, and I don’t know how to fill it.”

“Oh Barbara-“ Stricklander started before being cut off by a peep near their feet. Both adults looked to the ground and Stricklander felt his heart jump into his throat as he recognized what that ‘fat cat’ actually was. What sat at their feet, particularly right beside Barbara’s feet, was a very small, slightly glowing, TROLL. It wasn’t a changeling, all changelings in Arcadia he knew about. Even more, a changelings true troll form couldn’t survive sunlight. And this one was sitting right in a patch of light. Nothing about this troll made sense, not it’s size, it’s ability to survive sunlight, or whatever it had in its mouth. It was like it was some sort of half troll youngling...

“What in the world is this?” Barbara gasped, seeming unsure on how to react with the youngling clinging to her leg suddenly, peeping softly as it looked between the duo. She didn’t seem scared of it, so it was possible she also was mistaking it for a large cat.

“Looks like a stray, we should send it on its way,” Stricklander tried to reason, inching a hand towards it to try and shoo it away then track down later. When Barbara wasn’t around.

Instead, Barbara scooped up the youngling who squeaked happily before he could so much as lay a finger on him, “What an odd looking cat! I’ve never seen such a breed where patches of skin felt like rock! How odd!” She mused. 

Anxiety quickly shot through Stricklander as he watched her ponder, afraid she might see through the oddness and realize what the youngling could actually be, “Barbara, it could be covered in disease!” He tried reaching forward again but the woman pulled the youngling closer as she took a closer look. 

“Wait a second...” Stricklander was ready to lunge across the table at this point. “This is some sort of baby!” She gasped, the youngling giggling in response. He readied for her to scream, to yell and throw the youngling, anything other than what she did do. “We need to help him!”

“We- Wait we what?” Stricklander sputtered as Barbara hurriedly stood up and grabbed his hand, abandoning her coffee and pulling him out of his chair as he stumbled after her. “What do you mean by we?!”

“This is a small baby... something, I don’t know what, but I know it’s very young, far away from it’s family, and is probably starving!” She declared, determination raging in her eyes and she made her way towards her car. Stricklander suddenly realized the familiar stare of a mother determined to protect and care for their young in Barbara’s eyes, and horrible realization dawned on him as the pieces seemed to click together in his head. 

This human had just adopted a youngling and like the countless videos Barbara had shown him of animal mothers adopting orphaned animals of a different species, she was not going to let him out of her sight. Why she was dragging him into this madness, he was still trying to figure out. The death grip on his arm was enough to explain that whatever role she was about to dump on him, he would have no hopes of escaping. 

“Barbara? Why are you pulling me into this?” He whimpered as she shoved him into the passenger side of the car and shut the door. Then briskly walked around to the drivers side and slid into her own seat.

“You are going to help me figure out what he is, you are a teacher right? So you know how to do extensive research to find information! Here, hold him,” She finished by shoving the youngling into his arms and starting the car. 

“Wha- but-“ he stuttered, worriedly looking between the youngling and Barbara in concern. The youngling looked up at him with big blue eyes, glinting with knowing as he observed Stricklander’s face. He didn’t know how he knew, but this youngling knew full well that he was a changeling, or at the very least a type of troll. Stricklander expected him to start to wail, or at the least try and squirm out of his lap. 

Yet the youngling did the opposite, sitting nicely in his lap as he suddenly found interest in watching the world quickly pass by, quietly chewing on the weird rock in his mouth and the only other noise he would make being a squeak or chirp if he saw something particularly interesting. Even more, he snuggled close to his chest without much hesitation and seemed to like him as much as Barbara. Which didn’t make sense. 

Other than around Barbara or other humans, he wasn’t the most kind troll which could be easily picked up by other trolls or animals. Even a youngling should pull away in fear or hatred... in theory. 

This youngling was an idiot to trust him like this.

“Barbara, this could just be an odd type of cat-!” He tried to deter her, he was going to have to tell Gunmar about this. Younglings were hard to come by, and easy to manipulate. Even more, this one had the ability to walk in sunlight with no consequence... a weapon against the human race like this was more or less a miracle.

The only problem now was Barbara, all he needed was to convince her that this youngling is nothing more than a really weird cat so she could forget about it and he could go along with his business without her ever knowing.

“I know what cats look like, and cats don’t have stone skin, grasslike fur, horns, and glowing marks all over their body. Even more, that not-cat is some sort of baby and I KNOW because he has the innocence of one. This may be hard to believe Walter, but I think we just stumbled across a real mythical creature. And you are going to help me figure out what he could be!” Stricklander realized he was not going to be able to convince her otherwise. She was too smart for her own good, why did he always fall for the smart and determined ones?

Looking back down at the youngling, he frowned, unsure of how to work around the situation he was dragged into. At this rate, his own secret would come pouring out in an undesirable manner, ruining his relationship with Barbara.

Maybe he could find some sort of memory erasing spell? If only it was that easy...

The youngling tapped his face with a small hand suddenly, and he felt his human form shift to troll in that area. Hissing in confusion and worry, he swiped the younglings hand off his face and gained back control of his form entirely before Barbara could notice. 

All sorts of trollish swears were running through his head as he stared at the youngling, who only smiled back as he leaned back against his chest. How in the dickens did this little pile of rubble do that?

The car screeched to a halt, snapping him out of his daze as he lurched forward from the suddenness. The youngling clinging to his pants to keep from slamming into the dashboard, but immediately let go as Barbara plucked him off his lap and made a beeline for her house. 

Before following her inside as she probably expected, he touched his cheek that shifted under the younglings own touch, pondering what just happened. While it was difficult for trolls, few were gifted in the art of magic. Especially the Kurbera. 

Yet those trolls died in the war, and younglings haven’t been seen since. So was it really possible that this youngling...?

“Walter!”

“C-Coming Barbara!” Stricklander called back. It was probably nothing, he was just flustered and only needed to focus. He got out of the car and made his way towards the house, thinking of a plan to convince Barbara that he did extensive research to find out that this youngling is a troll and has no connection to himself whatsoever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honey, I don’t care what kind of baby this is, it’s mine now.
> 
> \- Barbara Lake Probably


	4. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Barbara and Stricklander figure out what Jim is, the troll guardians burst in to save their youngling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a cute chapter, but it also gets a bit sad. Nothing too extreme though! Not... not yet at least....

“A troll?” Barbara asked, the youngling sitting nicely in her lap as it chewed on a teething ring Barbara had from previously preparing for a baby. Luckily, she kept a lot of the things she bought and planned just to store them away until she actually had a child. Now they had quite a few things to entertain the youngling while they talked, which it seemed the small troll favoured anything he could shove into his mouth.

Stricklander nodded as he produced an article he ‘happened’ to find on the internet. As well as used his knowledge about Greek mythology as an excuse to having done previous research on trolls and recognized what to look for. He had to be careful to limit what he said to theory, instead of what he actually knew since it could tip Barbara off that he knew more than he was letting on. Such as the odd fact that the youngling lacked teeth, something that most younglings should have since birth. Not to mention his odd nose, more human than troll. He didn’t want to even think about his ability to walk in sunlight or the bits of magic he revealed in the car. “Yes, such as tales about creatures who live under bridges and ask riddles. The stone skin and grass-like fur match the multiple descriptions told throughout the years. Though it is quite difficult to fully pin down since all stories and tales focus on the adults, or only pin trolls as the enemy. Yet I can agree that this one happens to be a youngl- a young troll,” he quickly corrected himself. Barbara didn’t seem to notice his slip up as she thought, bouncing the youngling on her leg as he squealed with joy. 

“So... what about his parents then? If this little guy is a troll, shouldn’t he have parents?” Barbara asked. 

Stricklander hid his flinch well, “more than likely, he should. Who knows where they could be, I would doubt they would just let their young one wander alone though. Animals when caring for young, will usually hide their young as they fight off danger. Sometimes they don’t come back, and the offspring is left alone to fend for themselves.”

“So... you think his parents are... gone?” She asked. The youngling stopped chewing on the ring and looked up at Stricklander, as if knowing what they were speaking about. 

Stricklander swallowed the lump in his throat before speaking, “I see no other reason why this little one would be wandering around alone.”

The youngling began to whimper, and Barbara’s attention was suddenly directed to him. “What’s wrong?” She shifted him so he was sitting across her lap as she leaned closer and spoke in a soft voice. “Do... do you miss your real parents?” The youngling softly hiccuped as he began to cry, tugging at her shirt as he pulled himself closer. “Oh honey, it’s ok...” Barbara cooed, pulling the youngling even closer as she began to rock her body and hum. She stroked his head and let him sob into her shirt.

Stricklander felt more guilt wash over him as he realized that the youngling probably remembered what happened that night. It was possible he believed his parents to return for him, but now it was just dawning on him that they were not coming back. And it was Stricklanders fault that they were not.

A troll and a human, traveling together, Zerali was a fearless Kurbera but that night she seemed more than frantic. She was absolutely desperate and Stricklander only thought it was because she was trying to protect her human companion. But it wasn’t just him...

She was protecting this youngling. This half human youngling, he now realized that the human with her was the father. 

He stood up quickly, muttering, “excuse me for a moment,” before making a beeline for the kitchen, out of view of Barbara. It took all his strength not to collapse as he took heavy breaths. She was looking for Troll Market, that’s why she was in Arcadia. Zerali had abandoned the Kurbera tribe, surprising many trolls with her suddenness. She was gone for five years, they all assumed she died either from weakness or caught in the sunlight. Now he knew she left for a human, who traveled with her for those five years. Then they had a youngling by some miracle and she went looking for Troll Market so her family could be safe under the Trollhunter’s protection. But Bular found them, and he...

He remembered the fear on the man’s face, and he believed it to be fear for his own life. It wasn’t. It was fear for the youngling he had to hide, fear for what will happen to the youngling once he was dead.

Now he was debating to bring the youngling to Bular? He was exactly what humans thought of him, a monster.

Something snapped outside the window and he snapped out of his own guilt, he was pathetic to roll around in self pity. If he was going to prove to Barbara he wasn’t a monster, then he would need to protect this youngling with his life. Who knows, maybe he would grow into the warrior with the strength to defeat Bular, and the blood to unite human and troll.

More snaps were heard outside and Stricklander was beginning to believe that it wasn’t just a raccoon stepping on a series of twigs. He leaned closer to the kitchen window, focusing on the bushes behind the house and watching for any movement. He scanned the tree line, his gaze jolting back to an area he swore he saw 3 pairs of eyes. Yet as he tried to focus on them, they disappeared. 

Frowning, he leaned back and looked back towards the living room where Barbara was still cooing to the youngling who had calmed down. He felt something shift in his heart as he looked at the youngling. He was half human, trolls would see him as nothing more than that. Just as they viewed changelings, and humans would only see the troll part, he would be caught between two worlds. He guessed, it wouldn’t be so bad to help Barbara raise the youngling without Bular knowing. The youngling would know about the kindness of humans from Barbara, and not have to deal with the cruelty of needless hatred from those who see him nothing more as a halfling. 

He looked back outside, looking for the eyes he saw earlier. Something else was out there, and he needed to find it before-

“GIVE BACK JIM!” A voice roared before crashing through the kitchen window and tackling Stricklander to the ground. Instinctively, he switched to his troll form to absorb the blow and hissed back in anger. Looking up, he thought he was seeing the dead before he recognized the dark eyes of the deserter general, Arg. Stricklander lashed out, digging his feet into the larger trolls stomach and pushing him off before rolling away and getting back to his feet, flaring his wings as he glared at the enraged troll. 

“So this is where you have been hiding? Why attack now hm? And who is ‘Jim’?” Stricklander questioned, ready to move quickly if he had to.

“Don’t deserve to know!” Arg barked, pounding a fist against the kitchen floor. 

“Walter? What in the world are you doing in there?” Barbara called out, he heard her steps get closer and quickly shifted his form back to human, willing to risk getting a few broken ribs rather than reveal his secret to her.

Another troll stumbled through the window as Barbara entered the room cradling the youngling and froze. Everyone in the room seemed to Freeze with her, the only thing moving between them being the eyes from one person or troll to the other. Arg’s eyes were no longer black, and the new troll was frozen halfway through the destroyed window, Stricklander himself was a bit disgruntled, and Barbara seemed stuck between screaming or asking questions. 

The youngling broke the silence with a squeal, waving his arms before leaping out of Barbara’s, poorly smacking into the ground, then stumbled towards the two before head-butting Arg’s arm. “Jim! Oh Jim we looked everywhere! Well, Arg was mainly the one to track you down, BUT WE STILL LOOKED EVERYWHERE!” The large headed troll exclaimed, falling out of the window and running towards the youngling. He then twisted on Stricklander and Barbara, “who are you two? Why did you take Jim? Planning to- to dissect him or something?! FOR SHAME! To do such a thing to-“ he looked at Stricklander and stumbled over whatever else he was going to say. “CHANGELING?!”

Stricklander flinched as he worriedly looked to Barbara, who seemed more than just confused as she looked at the two new trolls and Walter. “Are these... his parents? What is a changeling?”

“Barbara I can explain-“ Stricklander tried to speak.

“P-Parents? Well, not blood related but I do like to think as myself as a guardian to young Jim.” He paused before he broke down. “A HORRIBLE GUARDIAN THAT IS! OH WHAT KIND OF FATHER WOULD LOSE HIS CHILD?!! I AM NOT WORTHY TO BE KNOWN AS A GUARDIAN!” He wailed, Arg now patting him on the back. The youngling, or... Jim he guessed was his name, sat in the middle of them all, seeming amused by their outbursts.

“So... you two are... trolls?” Barbara asked. 

“Erm,” the multi-eyed troll cleared his throat as he looked nervously to Stricklander and Barbara. “Well, no use hiding it. Yes. We are both trolls. But, your Changeling friend probably already told you.”

Stricklander glared at the big headed troll before hiding it as Barbara looked at him. “Do you mean Walter? He’s not a... What was it? Changeling?”

“Of course he is, he just fought off Arg,” the Troll tilted his stupidly big head as Stricklander tried to hiss to him to shut up.

“Walter, what is he talking about?” Barbara asked, narrowing her eyes as she seemed to suddenly focus only on him despite having two trolls in her kitchen.

“Absolute nonsense, we don’t even know if we can trust these trolls!” Stricklander quickly threw back, trying to pull together the strings that held his lies in place as they quickly fell out of his grasp.

“Well the baby troll seems to trust them, he ran right to them!” Barbara reasoned, crossing her arms as she looked at him in suspicion.

“He-He could have been trying to fight them off, but being so young he doesn’t fully understand-“ Stricklander spouted.

“And not to mention, a name for the baby. Jim?” The youngling looked at Barbara as she said his name, not exactly helping his case as Barbara closed in on him. “Which he answers to! Now, the fact that there are TROLLS in my house and I am for some reason starting to trust more than you, you should probably explain why they keep calling you a ‘changeling’ and how much you actually know about Trolls!”

“Barbara I-!” Stricklander looked between the two trolls who started this and the woman he respected... or maybe even had more than a little affection for. His charade was over, he realized. If he was ever going to scavenge what was left of his relationship, lying now would just make it all worse. Those two would not just let him lie his way out of this, it was time for... the truth. “I... I have been lying...” he dropped his human form, shifting into the troll form. He couldn’t help his flinch as Barbara gasped and took a step back, ironic how this was the bit that surprised her. “It’s no use denying that I am... what they say I am,” he threw a glare at the two trolls, in which Arg growled in response. “A changeling. A half breed. An... impure as some may say. I never meant... I never meant to hurt you, you are the one-!” 

Her fist connected with his jaw and he was suddenly on the floor, tasting copper as blood seeped onto the kitchen tiles. Great Merlin, that woman could deliver a punch.

“You lie to me, then plan to produce some sob story about how I changed you or something?” Barbara hissed as she shook out her hand.

That... kind of was the plan.

“Trolls... I can’t believe it... actual... trolls! And one was right under my nose for three years! Tricking me! Are you all like that?!” She quickly turned on the other trolls, who stumbled back and shook their heads, suddenly afraid of the smaller human. 

“No! Absolutely not! Please do not get the wrong idea ma’am! Only changelings can switch between a human and troll form! Arg and I only wanted to find Jim and bring him home! Um... and .... er, well... it would probably best if you never mention to anyone that you saw us,” the large headed troll awkwardly muttered the last bit.

Barbara frowned, “you... want to take him... back?” Anger leaked out of her before she suddenly flopped on the ground, almost as if broken by the few words. “Of... of course. You are his parents, in a way. You are both trolls, like him. You know how to take care of him in the right way... I don’t know anything about trolls,” she looked to the ground, her hair falling in front of her face and hiding it. “I guess... I thought I got a second chance. But... I see I was wrong...” Barbara then completely broke, all anger disappearing as she covering her face with her hands and trembled as sobs rocked her body. 

Stricklander wanted nothing more than to go and comfort here, but he knew that in his current state, he would only make her feel worse. The other two trolls looked more awkward then ever, unsure of what to do as the human cried at their feet and knowing that just leaving was a bit of a dick move.

“Barbara... was it?” The big headed troll asked, carefully sitting in front of her. “I don’t believe I introduced myself and my friend. My name is Blinky, and my friend here is Arg,” he paused, allowing Barbara to slowly calm herself and look up. “We did come to find Jim, to bring him back to our home but... I think that we may need your help as well.”

Barbara frowned, eyes still red and puffy but no longer crying, “What do you mean?”

“Arg and I... believe that Jim is half... human. He has features that aren’t fully troll, and abilities that normal trolls don’t possess. We know a limited amount of things about troll younglings, but know next to nothing about human younglings... just the other day we struggled with finding something for Jim to eat! Neither of us know what we are doing,” Blinky tried explaining. Stricklander was beginning to see where this was going.

“What are you saying?” Barbara asked, as if trying to clarify what she thought he was saying.

“Seeing as you have been dragged into this... We will need your help. With Jim. To raise him. Because we struggled for nearly an hour trying to find out what to feed him before finding out he didn’t have teeth. And honestly a human helping by recognizing human related problems would be very beneficial. And you can find him when he wanders into sunlight,” Blinky continuously dragged on.

“... really?” She asked. “How would that work?”

“Well... we will figure out something! But I believe that it will lead to the best outcome when raising Jim!” Blinky grinned.

Barbara smiled, a smile Stricklander seemed to remember before the miscarriage. She finally got her second chance.

“Now... about that changeling...” Blinky awkwardly brought up, and Stricklander remembered with a start that he was now in hostile territory. The best plan now was to fly off before decide to tear him apart.

Barbara quickly got back up, anger returning and replacing her happiness as she turned to him, “what SHOULD we do with this liar?” Stricklander scrambled towards the broken window, he just needed to open his wings and fly right out! Everything was over now, Barbara was showing no signs of ever forgiving him. His attempts to push down the ache in his heart didn’t prove to help at all either.

Before he could fly out the window or allow Barbara to tear him limb from limb, Jim crossed right in front of her without blinking an eye, crawled into his lap, and sat down with a determined look in his eye. He was stunned, and so were the other three occupants in the room. 

“Jim! You need to stay away from him, he’s dangerous! He probably works for Bular, like all the other changelings!” Blinky tried to reason with the youngling. In response, the young troll turned his body, still looking at the two trolls and Barbara, then did his best in wrapping his arms around Stricklanders waist and hugged as hard as possible. Which was strong enough to squeeze a squeak out of the changeling. 

“Jim, please... bad. Work for bad troll,” Arg pleaded. 

Jim squeezed Stricklander even harder, his eyes watering as he pouted at the group. 

Stricklander could only look at the youngling in surprise, “Why?” He asked. “Why do you trust me? Even after this?” It wasn’t like he expected a response, he just didn’t fully know what else to do.

Jim looked at him, one of his watery eyes spilling and sending waves of tears down one side of his face. But his look wasn’t sad, only determined. Then he shoved his face into Stricklanders chest and squeezed even tighter, tiny claws digging into Stricklanders sides. “Da!” Jim squeaked. Everyone around him froze for the second time that night, and Stricklander for once understood that this wasn’t random babbling at this point. He heard him say it once before even, though he only believed it to be him hearing things at the time. After the human he was chasing that night turned a corner and disappeared for a few moments. 

Then Stricklander was crying, he didn’t think that he could be so weak as to break down at a single, half finished word. Yet, here he was, a weak pathetic mess at this point. 

Wrapping his own arms around the youngling, he ignored the cautious glares of Barbara and the other two trolls and hugged back, whispering quietly to Jim so that only he could hear him. 

“I’m sorry...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what the next chapter will be about?
> 
> That’s right... we are going to meet his parents next chapter. And it is going to be SAD.


	5. Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see what happened to Jim’s real Parents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, quick heads up. There is some death in this chapter. Not extemely detailed, but enough to know how someone dies.
> 
> This is probably the saddest chapter in this fic btw. Just because of the content.
> 
> HAVE FUN :)

“Troll Market?” Ethan asked, looking up at Zerali with deep brown eyes as they walked through the thick woods. His thick, curly black hair gently drifting with the soft breeze but causing dust to gather on his thick brimmed glasses. 

The pale grey-blue troll with shimmering blue markings covering her body nodded in response, her footsteps light despite being massive in size. The breeze barely had any effect on her coarse, deep blue fur that clung close to her body. Her horns almost as thick as her arms as they curved upwards, sharply twisting outwards before twisting sharply again as it continued upwards again. She was the definition of beautiful that could easily crush you with one hand.

“As you know, most of us trolls survive better and longer when living near hearthstones. Hence the reason why I took a piece before leaving my clan. Troll Market is an area relatively close to the surface, but it is guarded by a Trollhunter, making is safer than most other colonies near the surface,” she explained.

“A Trollhunter... how do we know they will let us take refuge? What if they throw us back out to fend for ourselves?” Ethan asked, remembering his own family and experiences with a frown.

“Then we will move on and find somewhere else,” she huffed. “But we need somewhere safe to raise Jim... we can’t keep running all over the place like we did before...”

“Zerali, whatever happens, we will get through it together,” he reassured her.

She stopped, looking at the starry sky for a moment before heaving a heavy sigh, “but what will the other trolls think of him when they realize he is only half troll? I don’t want others looking down on him for the rest of his life!”

“Just because he is half troll, doesn’t mean that that part of him doesn’t exist. The same goes for his human half. We had Jim because we wanted to become a family, and being half human and half troll will never change the fact that he is our son,” Ethan smiled.

“You always know what to say,” Zerali purred as she nudged him. “It’s what caught my attention when we first met.”

“Heh, my parents always did say I could talk my way out of anything. I just never thought I would be talking my way into something else! But...” he smiled up at her, “I am glad I did.”

“We better keep moving if we want to find the entrance before sunrise,” Zerali grew slightly more serious.

“Of course, if we can’t find it, we will just retreat into the woods and search the next night,” Ethan agreed as he picked up his pace. “How is Jim?”

Zerali lifted an arm to reveal the small troll clinging to the fur on her chest as he slept, at first he feared that their son would accidentally let go and fall off whenever he did this. Though at this point, he knew that the youngling never did let go and it was quite natural for troll young to cling to their mothers like this, especially in the Kurbera tribe. “Still asleep I see,” Ethan laughed.

“His sleep schedule is honestly one of the most painful things at this point,” Zerali playfully moaned. They both snickered as they thought about the hardships of figuring out what exactly was the human bit, and what was the troll bit of Jim. Sometimes it was fun, like seeing how he played, picking either a troll or human thing, or trying to encourage him to speak English or trollish first. Other times it would be painful, like his sleep schedule for example, or his temper when it came to meltdowns.

He was a good boy though, the meltdowns he had usually were limited, and he was almost always cheery in nature. His natural curiosity would be the death of Ethan though, multiple times Ethan had bodily leapt in front of the youngling to prevent him from wandering into sunlight. Not to mention how many times he had to pry his son’s mouth open to see what he tried to eat that day. 

Zerali also had to deal with such mishaps, the most dangerous habit being his ability to wander off. One second he would be playing in the grassy fields, the next he was almost falling into the river. Ethan had never seen a troll move as fast as Zerali when she realized that her curious youngling had found himself digging into an anthill. 

Maybe with more trolls, it might be a little easier to keep an eye on the youngling. A community to interact with wouldn’t hurt either.

He took a few more steps up the hill and made his way away from the tree line before looking down to the town below. It was a small town, but very quaint. There was very little to no activity in the night, and Ethan quickly understood why this could be considered a nice place for trolls to live. They could scavenge the garbage without much fuss as nobody was really awake in these hours, and as a small town near the woods, missing pets or strange shapes digging in the dumpsters at night could be considered animals from the forest that wandered into town. “This is it?” He asked.

Zerali nodded, “the description matches what I have heard. Our best bet would be to find the Trollhunter of this town and ask him. If anything, even a resident of Troll Market would be favourable.”

Ethan crossed his arms as he continued looking at the town, “I know you may not want to discuss this, but it is very probable that the trolls won’t let me stay at Troll Market.”

Zerali hissed, “they will let you stay, it is either all of us, or none of us!”

“If they let only you and Jim in, we should take that deal,” Ethan continued, ignoring her glare.

“But you are MY love, I do not care if you are human or what the others think of it, I will not let them separate us!” She barked back.

“But you and Jim need to stay safe, I can easily live in this town and come and visit-“ Ethan reasoned before Zerali shut him down.

“We are a family, and I did NOT leave my tribe just for us to get separated again. We can always find somewhere else, together. You forget how persuasive Kurbera can be though, we will all be able to take refuge here,” she huffed, calming down.

She was right, they left their old lives behind so they could be together. He couldn’t let a small hiccup discourage him and abandon what they both worked for. “You are right, I just get worried is all,” he softly smiled. 

“Let’s start looking before we waste more time bickering,” Zerali grinned as she carefully made her way down the hill towards the town. Ethan laughed as he followed her lead, keeping his footsteps short and quick to avoid slipping and rolling down the hill.

He couldn’t help but think of what their future might look like. He didn’t mind that he would probably only be interacting with trolls, they were usually quite kind. Then he thought about Jim and how he might grow up, what he would look like and wondering how human he may look as he got older. While he looked mostly troll now, he was only a year old and that could change as he got older. Most of his features he got from his mother, he could only imagine how much strength he also inherited from her. 

Zerali stopped at the edge of town, tensing as her fur rose defensively and she scanned the area around her. Ethan paused beside her and began to look around as well, something wasn’t right.

“What is it?” Ethan asked, his eyes darting from one dark spot to another as if he could find something hiding in those shadows. 

“Something... familiar. But it couldn’t be...” she muttered, slowly taking a step back. This immediately set off a ton of red flags in Ethan’s mind. Zerali didn’t back down from anything, she always seemed ready to fight whatever she was facing head on. This single step back meant she felt threatened by a force that could be more powerful than her. “We need to leave,” she said more sternly, as if realizing what the threat was. “Now!” 

They both turned fast, Ethan recognizing the panic in her voice and trusting her that their best option would be to retreat to the woods. 

Too late though.

A thin troll dropped in front of them, leathery wings spread out before him as he stood up taller and wrapped them up like a cloak over his shoulders. Glowing yellow eyes met Ethan’s, and he felt the hatred burn into his skull despite being a few feet away from the troll. 

Zerali let out a hearty growl, the ground rumbling as she did so and took a step forward. Then the ground shook more violently as something MUCH heavier landed behind them. More slowly, they both turned to see a massive black troll grinning down on them. While he was only a few inches bigger than Zerali, power radiated off him and Ethan felt his heart pick up as adrenaline began to course through his veins. This troll was a Gumm gumm, a powerful, ruthless, dark troll that seeked to destroy the surface and take control of it. Even worse, it was Bular.

Zerali told him about the troll war, and how this single gumm gumm managed to avoid being sealed in the dark lands. He was extremely dangerous, and Ethan had hoped they could have avoided him. Now he feared what would happen next, what in the world could this troll want?

“Zerali... What brings you to these parts?” Bular sneered, lumbering around them as the flying troll, which he now recognized as a changeling, kept opposite as to keep them from running.

“That is none of your business!” Zerali spat, her voice strong despite the fear that probably screamed at her to run as it did at Ethan.

“Oh, but everything in these parts are my business... especially when a strong Kurbera wanders from her safe little cave underground. Why in the world did you do that, hmm?” Bular questioned, leaning closer to Zerali as he spoke. Ethan made sure to keep Zerali between him and the Gumm gumm, if he were to notice he was there, this interaction would not end well.

“I don’t need to answer your questions,” Zerali said firmly, making sure to do her best to block his view of Ethan as well.

Bular caught Ethan’s eye as he ducked behind Zerali’s form, but that millisecond was all it took for Bular to drop his act and become aggressive. “A human? Did you leave your tribe... for a pathetic flesh bag?!” His voice rose in volume as he took a menacing step towards Zerali, who made the mistake of stepping back instead of standing her ground. 

She was beginning to panic, Ethan realized. She still had Jim with her, and while Bular hadn’t noticed the youngling just yet, he would be able to piece together what happened if he did see him. Worse, he would try and kill the youngling if he put all of it together. “I was going to offer you a spot in our glorious empire! I had respected your courage in the war! Now! Now you are a cowardly fool who fell for a worthless FLESH BAG!” Bular roared, launching himself at Zerali at the last second. 

Zerali dodged, rolling to the side as she dragged Ethan with her, eyes wide with fear as she watched the Gumm gumm. Then that fear turned to determination and fury. “Ethan, take Jim and stand back. Make sure that Bular doesn’t see him,” she ordered, discreetly placing the youngling in his arms and turning back to face her enemy. 

A pit formed in his stomach as he realized what she was going to do, even as he quickly hid Jim in his oversized sweater. “Zerali please, we just need to run!” He begged.

“I am done running. I will kill him, and we will finally live peacefully,” she said gruffly. He wanted to reach out and stop her, but she charged too quickly for him to so much as lay a finger on her. Bular screeched before also charging, lowering his head to slam into Zerali’s as they both picked up speed. Neither troll slowed before the impact, horns clashing with the might of mountains. 

Ethan could only stare, frozen on the spot as he watched the fight. He didn’t realize Jim had woken up and peaked his head out of his sweater, also watching the fight silently.

Zerali shrieked as she clawed at Bular’s face, who countered with his own blows to her face. They circled each other whenever they threw each other apart, shaking the ground with the force of an earthquake whenever they charged at each other. Zerali would bite and scratch, slamming Bular into the ground whenever she could and always aiming for his throat. But Bular was bigger, stronger, and sturdier. Even as he would hit the ground, he would rebound with even stronger hits to Zerali’s jaw, chest, or arms. While the fight itself didn’t last extremely long, it felt like an eternity as Ethan watched Zerali hit the ground more and more. Each blow she took left new scratches, cracks, and chips. She began to slow down while Bular sped up, getting hit more and more as she failed to dodge or block his blows.

Ethan’s felt the sting of tears, and tightened his hold on Jim. She was losing. “Come on... come on, Zerali...” he whimpered, mostly to himself. She just had to win this. She had to.

Bular took hold of her horns and drove her head into the ground, sending up dirt in waves as he forced it down. Then, he kicked her onto her back as she coughed and tried to take in air, blue blood dribbling from the corner of her mouth. “Prepare to die, traitor,” Bular hissed. 

Zerali scowled back, spitting her blood in his face. “Someone will kill you one day, and my spirit will be there to make sure yours makes it to hell,” She croaked.

Ethan’s heart stopped, this wasn’t how it was going to end, was it? “No...” he half-heartedly whispered.

Bular slashed her throat, a single, swift movement that caused Zerali to hiss before becoming silent. Ethan’s vision blurred as he stared at her body, his knees weak and his throat tight. He couldn’t see properly, and a horrible ringing began to fill his ears as something warm and wet slid down his cheeks.

Get up. 

Please. Please get up.

She couldn’t be... she just had to stand back up. Then they could run.

This was a dream... right? Just... just a horrible horrible dream.

She was going to get up, and kill Bular instead. 

She had to.

She wasn’t...

The world crashed onto him from all sides, the ringing stopping abruptly and his vision clearing as he made sense of his thoughts.

He. He had to run. Zerali was...

Zerali was dead. 

And he needed to protect Jim.

He absentmindedly took a step back, taking one last look at her body that lay too still in the dirt. Then, squeezed his eyes shut and darted into town. 

He was just leaving her there... how could he just...

He had to protect Jim. That’s all that mattered at this moment. 

He heard the flapping of leathery wings, and didn’t need to look behind him to know that the changeling was now chasing after him. He turned into an alley, using the tight space as an easy way to escape his view without being followed by the sky. 

But the changeling could still run. 

He was outnumbered, outclassed, and without any hope of escape. At most, he could avoid the changelings view for a few moments.

Something wizzed in the air past him and a stabbing pain exploded from his side, causing him to trip and stumble forward. Keeping on his feet and making sure to keep running, he dared a glance at the area he felt pain.

A sharp feather like blade was embedded deep into his waist, blood already seeping from the wound and soaking through his shirt and showing signs of soaking through his sweater. 

Placing a hand on the wound, he forced himself forward, taking more twists and turns as to confuse even himself. In turn, he finally lost the changeling, even if it wouldn’t last long. 

He limped towards a green dumpster, using it to help hold himself up as he looked down at his side then back at the dark of the alleyway. Then he looked at Jim, who whimpered from his sweater as he worriedly looked at the blood coming from Ethan’s waist and back at his face. 

A crash came from the alley way and Ethan made his decision. He moved as quickly as possible, finding his journal and tearing out a page before finding a pencil. Using the dumpster as a hard surface, he recalled the trollish lettering Zerali taught him and spelled out a single sentence on the scrap paper. He then pulled out his shoelace, roughly stabbed it through the paper, and tied it around Jim’s neck. 

Jim only whimpered more as he looked up at him and down at the note, unable to figure out what was happening. 

Carefully, Ethan pulled the youngling out of his jacket, holding him out to take a good look at his son. He smiled sadly, knowing what he was going to do and that all he needed now was to remember everything he could about Jim before he executed his plan. Jim whimpered a little louder, and Ethan pulled him close to his chest once more, hugging his son for the last time.

“Jim, I don’t know how much you can understand me... but always know that mommy and daddy always loved you. And we always will... daddy has to go now... but you have to stay here and be very quiet... ok?” Ethan asked. 

Jim dug his face into Ethan’s chest, his hands gripping his sweater as he felt his son’s tears soak into his shirt, his whimpering muffled. 

Ethan then slowly pulled Jim away, who’s whimpering got even worse, “Please... Jim you have to stay quiet... for daddy, ok?”

Jim’s whimpering stopped, but he still looked ready to burst into tears. Then he reached out, and placed a hand on Ethan’s cheek, and cried “Da!” 

Ethan smiled, joy replacing his fear as he recognized his son’s first word. “I love you, Jim...” 

He stopped himself from delaying it any longer, lifting the dumpster lid and placing the youngling inside. Once he closed the lid again, he finally let the tears run free. 

He got to hear his son speak his first word. And... it was enough.

He ran out into the streets, his limping even worse as he became dizzy with each step. 

Something hit him hard in the back, and he hit the ground with a ‘thud!’, scratching his chin on the pavement and worsening his spinning vision. The changeling who chased him kicked him over onto his back so he could see him.

He was scared, but it wasn’t death he was scared of anymore. It was the idea of them finding and killing Jim... 

The changeling moved to deliver the final blow and Ethan closed his eyes.

And he saw Jim and Zerali, sitting in the meadow as she pointed out her favourite flowers to him. 

He felt... at peace. 

And then he felt nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SAD BACKSTORY COMPLETE.
> 
> OOF.


	6. Understanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barbara is pissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... last chapter huh?
> 
> that was a fun chapter. I cried. You cried. We all cried.
> 
> Well now we get to go through a bit more angst before some much needed fluff next chapter :D

“That’s... that’s what happened. I have no excuse for what I did... Only now do I understand the full extent...” Stricklander sighed. Barbara could only stare as she listened to his story. She wanted to lunge across across the table and strangle him, to slap that guilty look off his face as he refused to meet anyone’s eyes. Yet the youngling in his lap prevented her from doing any of that. Why Jim still remained determined to trust him was beyond her.

“So that’s it? You! You killed-!” She hissed through gritted teeth before taking a breath and leaning back in her chair. “You killed his father, without any hesitation... and you can’t even defend yourself?”

“Following orders... is not an excuse. Bular could care less about a human. I did it out of my own hatred, my only reasoning at the time being orders...” he quietly said, focusing on an interesting spot on the floor. Jim continued sitting still, but she heard a small sniffle come from him as he probably remembered the event. 

“What if you knew about Jim? Would you have still done it?” She growled.

If it was possible, he looked even more guilty, hunching his shoulders as he squeezed his eyes shut. “I probably would have,” he sighed. “My views only changed when I saw you with him. Before, I would have seen him as a halfling that could grow into a weapon for Gunmar’s army. Seeing you with him... treating him as if your own... I realized that he is still a youngling... that didn’t deserve to have his parents torn away from him...” the room filled with silence once again, Blinky and Arg still had yet to speak. Both seeming mixed between grief and anger. Strickler spoke again though, his voice cracking, “I don’t deserve this younglings forgiveness or protection...”

Barbara actually agreed with his last statement, he didn’t deserve any forgiveness. The only reason she wasn’t wringing his neck being that Jim would block her way.

Blinky spoke suddenly, but it seemed to mostly be to himself, “Zerali is... dead then?”

Strickler solemnly nodded, “I watched Bular deal the final blow myself. She fought bravely, defending what she believed in.”

Blinky could only sigh, “she was a strongly willed troll, a great loss... but we cannot focus on the past.”

Barbara’s anger sparked, “So we are just going to let him get away with-!” 

“I didn’t say we will forgive him!” Blinky quickly interrupted her. “I’m saying that we can’t bring back the dead, and Jim here needs to be cared for. I don’t know how much understanding he has at this point, as it varies between troll and human, but he seems pretty clear on his feelings towards the changeling.”

“We can’t trust him, he lied to me for three years, AND he works for some, BIG EVIL TROLL GUY! I don’t care about his sob stories, I want to keep Jim SAFE from that MONSTER!” She vented, throwing her arms in the air. “And I’m referring to the one sitting across from me, not his BOSS!”

“Your feelings about me are very clear, Barbara,” Strickler sighed.

“You! Don’t get to talk to me!” She hissed.

“Barbara has a point, we don’t know if we can trust you not to tell Bular about this,” Blinky scowled. “Even if Jim wants to trust you, the rest of us don’t.”

Strickler looked at Jim, who looked up at him in return before answering, “I won’t tell Bular about Jim. Instead, I will tell you about Bular’s plan. I was blinded by hatred before, and now I realize that what I’m working for isn’t going to help the changelings...”

“What, so you suddenly just switched to the other side because a child believes in you?” Barbara spat.

“I see a future, when I see Jim and you. A future that isn’t the war that Gunmar craves. I believed he would leave us changelings to have our own land, in which I would protect you from other trolls. Yet that was never a peaceful future, or a realistic one. You would have hated me then, for being a part of the destruction. This path... leads to something... better...” he explained.

Barbara’s gaze narrowed, and she hated how she knew he was being genuinely sincere. Everything he was saying was the truth, and she knew it. None of it was an act, he felt guilty about murdering Jim’s parents, he saw his mistake and regretted it, and now he truly believed that this was a better path to take than what he was following beforehand. “Fine,” she barked, “but I still don’t trust you, Strickler!” With that, she left the room to let off some steam without everyone watching, heading towards the basement and slamming the door behind her. 

She paused at the top of the stairs, taking a heavy breath before descending down them. She was hurt, she really did liked Walter. Even more, she wasn’t just excited about being a mother when realizing what Jim was, she was excited about raising him with someone she trusted. Someone who stood by her as Jim Sr, her ex, left her without so much as a message. Then after her miscarriage, and always just being there for her to turn to. Now she felt like she didn’t even know him anymore, and it was like the walk-out all over again, only this time she didn’t have anyone to turn to. 

Why did Jim want him to stay so badly? Why couldn’t he just hate him for what he did like any normal person would? Then they could kick him out, sick Arg on him or get a crowbar and she could smack him in the skull herself!

She sat on the floor and pulled her knees to her chest, looking over to the box full of baby things. It was labeled: ‘Jim/Carrie Lake Jr’, the names for a boy or a girl she decided with him, before he left. She had been planning to bring it back up, but now she just wanted to sulk and think. How could she trust anyone when they keep lying to her face before turning their back on her?

The door creaked open and she tensed, ready to lash out if it was Strickler. Instead the blue troll, Blinky, stuck his head through, spotted her, then slowly descended down the stairs after shutting the door behind him. “We talked with the Chang- erm, Walter. He told us about Bular’s plans, which seem very far fetched to me but in time we may fully understand if what he says is true.” Barbara remained quite, turning her head away in attempt to get the troll to leave so she could sulk alone in peace. “I didn’t just come down here to tell you that though... I want to also say... that we should probably trust Jim’s judgement. 

She couldn’t stop herself from lashing out again, “so we just trust a child’s judgement? Just like that? We fully trust him because Jim does?” 

“I’m guessing you had feelings for him...” Blinky guessed. She hunched her shoulders even more and lowered her head, not looking at him. So he sat beside her. “You must feel... hurt. Knowing what he is now.”

“I’m not mad because he’s a troll... changeling... well I was! But that’s not really it. I’m mad at him because of the kind of troll he was!” Barbara hissed. “Sure I’d be mad if he just lied about being a changeling but I would eventually forgive him, because... it’s understandable. What’s not understandable is working for an EVIL troll that orders him to KILL others!” She groaned.

“He... hasn’t made extremely good choices until this point,” Blinky muttered. “I still doubt his decision making.”

“I can’t trust him knowing what he did. I wanted to hear him say that he only did it because he had to, not that he wanted to. I wanted to believe... that he would never do that...” Barbara sniffled, pulling her legs closer to her chest. 

“Then hearing him say he would do it again without hesitation wasn’t exactly heartwarming,” Blinky connected. “But... it’s better than him lying to your face once again, isn’t it?”

“I hate that he’s being honest with us,” Barbara growled. “I hate him for lying, I hate him for toying with my feelings, and I hate him for pretending to be an amazing guy while murdering parents in the background!”

“Those are all good reasons to hate him,” Blinky agreed. “So, why are you more upset than angry?”

“Because!” Barbara snapped, before lowering her voice, “because... I believe him when he says he wants to change. Because I can’t hate him for realizing his mistakes, and I can’t hate him for wanting to help raise Jim away from that troll he works for. Everything is a mess...” 

“It probably is, this morning starting like any other day, then ending with secrets revealed, two trolls in your house, and a youngling in need of guidance. Arg and I... we will follow whatever decision you make,” Blinky nodded.

“Why?” Barbara asked, finally looking over to the blue troll.

“Stricklander was a part of your life. If I understand humans correctly, it’s that yours can be difficult to navigate in your society. So changes like this must be stressful, maybe even painful. Keeping Stricklander around should be your decision, so do you really want to allow him to stay? Or deep down, do you want to throw him out?”

Barbara thought about it, thinking about his stupid face, but then it flashing to Jim’s innocent one. “I don’t believe I’ll ever fully get past what he has done, but... I’ll stand by what I said. He can stay, to help raise Jim. But one step out of line-!”

“And we will drag him back to our Trollhunter to deal with, after you deliver anything you need to let out of course,” Blinky nodded.

She couldn’t help but laugh, “Are All trolls good at giving advice? Even if I hate his guts now, he did give good advice during my hard times. Now here another troll is, giving me more advice that isn’t half bad.”

Blinky almost seemed to swell with pride, “Well, I do train and advise the Trollhunter! It’s nice knowing that everything I say isn’t seen as nonsense!”

Barbara laughed a bit more before trailing off into silence, “with Strickler staying, what will we tell Jim when he’s older and can fully understand the extent of what Strickler did?” 

“That won’t be our place to tell him,” Blinky simply put, “it will be up to Stricklander to decide how and when to tell him. Though Jim seems to understand to a degree what happened.”

“Why do you think he wants to protect him?” Barbara asked.

“Pardon?” Blinky blinked at her.

“Jim. If he knows, even to the slightest degree, that Strickler had something to do with the death of his parents... why protect him? Where does that trust come from?” She asked in a more clear format.

“I... have no clue,” Blinky simply said. “I thought it was the human part of him, but then again it could be troll since we haven’t seen younglings in centuries.”

Barbara jerked upright, taking in what he just said, “Wait. You haven’t seen baby trolls... in... centuries? Really? Just you or all of troll kind?” 

“Most of Troll kind, really. Younglings are hard to conceive, trolls connect for life and after the war... well... a lot of trolls were widowed. The fear of Bular didn’t help much either. In the end, we just tried... surviving. So... no, we haven’t seen younglings in a very long time,” Blinky confirmed.

“No wonder you are an absolute mess, you have no idea how to take care of children at all!” Barbara yelped.

“I doubt you know anything either,” Blinky blubbered, suddenly getting defensive of his lack of knowledge regarding younglings.

“I read a few books!” Barbara defended herself. “Though that probably isn’t much compared to actual experience.”

“I guess... we will all learn somehow,” Blinky grinned.

Barbara shook her head as she chuckled, then stood up, “I guess we should go back up and figure out how this is all going to work.”

“I guess so,” Blinky agreed.

The pair made their way upstairs once again, finding Arg, Strickler, and Jim all in the living room. Strickler avoided looking directly at her as he hunched over Jim, “I... thought we should put on a movie... for Jim to watch while we discuss... other matters,” he explained.

She then noticed he held a copy of ‘The Lion King’ in his hand, about to place it in the DVD tray. She didn’t remember buying that movie, and she doubted Blinky or Arg collected DVD’s. 

She finally let go of her anger, waving a dismissing hand as she walked towards the kitchen, “good idea.”

She caught Walter’s look of surprise and confusion before turning the corner, he was probably expecting a more hostile response. She didn’t forgive him for what he did, but snapping at him all the time around Jim wouldn’t be good. And Jim needed all her focus now.

Maybe, she would forgive him one day. To a degree. 

Just not today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my favourite tropes is the circle of violence. One of the best examples being from my favourite anime/manga series, Fullmetal Alchemist. Violence continues until someone finally breaks the circle by stopping and accepting. 
> 
> Barbara here is not forgiving Strickler, but she is accepting that she can’t change what happened and she can move on. Forgiveness may never come, but compassion can still be offered in order to break the cycle of hate and violence.


	7. Lion King is very Influential

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pair discover just how easy it is to influence Jim with a Disney movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to the fluff! Barbara is still angry at Strickler but she knows that Strickler won’t be lying to her face much anymore. Especially if he wants to live another day haha

“Where in the world is Jim?” Barbara asked, looking under cushions at this point as her brow creased with worry. “You better not have-“ she began before Stricklander cut her off.

“No, for the hundredth time, I did not take him to Bular. I have been here the whole time and I’m just as confused as you are,” he sighed. It had been like this for the past week. Barbara barely trusted him to be within 10 feet of Jim, and whenever something went wrong in the slightest way she would immediately blame him. It wasn’t like he could blame her though, he did admit to killing the younglings parents without much hesitation. He kind of wished he lied about the whole thing, said he did his best to try and stop Bular from killing the odd pair but alas, he was too late. She might have believed such a story.

Or she might have seen right through him and failed to trust him even more so than she did now. Even more, more lies would eventually be revealed at one point and his relationship with the human would be even worse than where it is now.

At least she TALKS to him, even if 90% of what she says is accusations of him betraying everyone in the name of Bular. Like he would do that asshat any favours, he was only using that brat to get to Gunmar.

Yet now he has a new goal, which is to raise Jim with Barbara and maybe he will have the set skills and power to defeat the Gumm gumm once and for all. He doubted he would have to do much training with him since the other two trolls that agreed to take care of him in Troll Market from time to time would probably have the warriors there to train him. Like the Trollhunter.

But they had to find the youngling first in order to raise him. And young Jim had a NOTORIOUS habit of disappearing without a sound, then appearing in odd places. Stricklander guessed it was curiosity, but his ability to wander from one place to another was painfully hard to keep track off. So far he has managed to wander to the basement, the inside of the dishwasher, all of the bathrooms, he even made it outside once and was beelining it to the forest. Even more, when they did find him he was never upset when they brought him back to the living room or away from the place he wandered to, instead he would just squeak or squawk and look at them before laughing. Like it was some sort of game. This child had an extremely odd sense of humour, giving them heart-attacks nearly every day before they found him harmlessly wandering around.

He heard Barbara shout from outside and rushed out to join her, she must’ve found the youngling. In a way, he was curious to see where he was THIS time.

She was in the middle of the back yard, looking up to the roof, “Jim! What are you doing up there?!” She squawked.

Turning around and looking up, he saw the youngling somehow made his way up onto the roof of the house, and was sitting a bit too close to the edge. The odd thing though was that he had a stuffed rabbit with him this time, which he usually didn’t bring any toys with him when he wandered. So this was new.

“Walter, do something!” Barbara worriedly hissed, positioning herself to catch Jim if he were to slip and fall. Before he could make it to the building to try and jump up on the roof, Jim started babbling, but in a way like he knew what he was say.

Slightly intrigued, he watched as Jim loomed over the stuffed rabbit and babbled loudly, “BA BOO... BA BING!” Then proceeded to backhand the rabbit over the edge of the roof and onto the ground with a ‘squeak’.

This little fucker went on the roof just to reenact the Lion King scene where Scar kills Mufasa. And he was pretending to be SCAR. 

He felt her glare before he turned to meet it, knowing full well what Barbara was going to yell at him for this time. “Did... he just pretend to be Scar? The villain from Lion King?” She asked.

“It- erm. Appears so Barbara,” he muttered. “NO I DIDN’T TEACH HIM THAT!” He quickly defended himself.

Jim chose this moment to use the rain gutter to slide down from the roof onto the ground and cheerfully run over to Barbara, lifting his arms as an indication that he wanted to be picked up. Of course she complied, it wasn’t as if she could ignore the younglings eager gaze.

That was another thing he noticed about Jim, he REALLY liked being carried around. He learned quickly that if he lifted his arms and looked at any of his guardians willingly enough, they would pick him up and he LOVED it. 

“So you didn’t encourage him to look up to the villain,” Barbara raised an eyebrow.

“Of course not! I barely watched the movie, much less encouraged young Atlas to relate to the villain,” he exclaimed.

Barbara was looking at him weird, and he couldn’t understand why. “Young... Atlas?” She asked.

Stricklander felt his face flush in embarrassment, realizing he just gave a nickname to the youngling. “I- uh. Well I... you see-!” He muttered quickly under his breath. He looked up and jolted in surprise to see her grinning ear to ear at him, a mischievous look in her eyes.

“You gave him a nickname, even more, a nickname from your favoured Greek Mythology if I’m not mistaken?” She cheekily snickered.

Damn her for knowing so much about his likes and dislikes, “I- I don’t know what you are talking about!” He tried to deny her cheeky gaze.

“You must like him if you gave him a nickname,” she laughed.

“Many evil people give heroes nicknames,” he threw back, Why was he pinning himself as the villain again?

“But this nickname isn’t mocking in any way, if I recall... Atlas was the titan who held the worlds sky on his shoulders. Heroes would be compared to him as people who are burdened by large responsibilities, which was almost never really a bad thing. And you said you admire Atlas for having that kind of power,” she sneered. Damn her for being a great listener! “So... by that logic you like him!”

“Yes, I like the small troll who makes it very difficult to hate because of his innocent view of the world and trusting nature, happy?” He said crossly.

Her smile deepened, “it’s a step towards convincing me that you aren’t a soulless monster.”

He jerked upright, even more embarrassed than before as Barbara gracefully walked back inside, then followed after her, unsure how to respond.

Once inside, Barbara handed Jim to Strickler before speaking, “I need you to watch him while I prepare dinner, Arg and Blinky will be over soon to pick up Jim so I can go to school this week.” He nodded in response, he almost forgot Barbara was still in College, working towards becoming a doctor. Everything happening around them, it was easy to forget.

Then the door slammed open before Barbara could head to the kitchen and the pair jumped, looking over to see a bright pink troll with sharp features and bright green eyes. Strickler felt the colour drain from his face as he recognized Nomura. 

“Stricklander! I spotted two odd trolls in this area, and with you acting so weird lately I decided to investigate and-“ she stopped as she focused the room, noting both Barbara and Stricklander, then her eyes landed on Jim. “Oh. OH!” She dropped her blades and placed both hands on her head as she started laughing. “OH SHIT! HOLY SHIT!”

Stricklander snuck a glance at Barbara, who slowly looked towards him, an eyebrow raised. “Someone you know?” 

Stricklander let out an awkward laugh, but Nomura started talking before he could answer Barbara. “YOU MOTHERFUCKER! You actually DID IT! I DIDN’T BELIEVE YOU COULD EVER DO IT BUT THERE IS LIVING PROOF IN YOUR ARMS!” She kept laughing, unable to contain her joy as tears seemed to sit in the corners of her eyes. “OH THIS IS TOO FUCKING GOOD!”

Oh. Oh he understood now. She thought that Jim was his son and that Barbara gave birth to him. “Nomura it isn’t-!” He tried to explained.

“So what’s his name? ATLAS? You and your stupid ass Greek Mythology! I still can’t believe you actually managed to get in BED with her! Holy FUCK!” Nomura ranted, wheezing in between words.

“Maybe we should all come inside and explain what is going on,” Barbara calmly said. She was taking this well considering the swearing, pink troll that was laughing hysterically in the entranceway. Then again, she had witnessed quite a few things that weren’t exactly considered normal this last week. 

Stricklander began feeling the sense of dread that he was going to end up explaining everything, and that Nomura wouldn’t be as easy to convince to keep this all secret.

———————

“I won’t tell anyone,” Nomura shrugged as she swished her glass of wine that the human, Barbara had graciously offered. “Even if it isn’t biologically your kid, it’s still very amusing to see all of this happen. And Bular is a dick so you don’t see me losing sleep over a few secrets he doesn’t know.”

Strickler had been acting odd all week, leaving early sometimes, then arriving very late. She though that he was spending ‘quality time’ with his human friend. Turns out that he was helping raise a youngling both him and the human found, which also turns out to have been orphaned when Stricklander and Bular killed that odd pair last week.

That was going to be a fun story to explain to a small youngling once he was old enough. Looking over to him, she grew slightly confused when she didn’t feel as much amusement at the thought as she thought she would. 

Looking back to Stricklander and shaking the thought away, she smirked again. “Thank goodness, I was worried I’d have to smack you with this pan to make sure you didn’t tell anyone!” The human sighed. Nomura smirk disappeared as she realized why the human was carrying that cast iron pan, even more, she knew fully well that she would use it if she felt it was necessary. A chill ran up her spin before she tore her gaze away from the human and back to Stricklander, why was his taste in humans so horrible?

“I see...” Nomura muttered before picking up her tone again. “So you wouldn’t mind if I stop by every so often to see how raising the little gremlin is going?”

“His name is JIM-“ the human began to harshly speak before Stricklander cut her off. 

“Absolutely not, come by any time!” Stricklander quickly said before he whispered something harshly to the human, something along the lines of ‘just let her do whatever she wants and she won’t be a problem’.

He knew her so well. “I better get going then, stuff to do, places to be,” She hummed as she stood up and finished her wine. She was respectful enough as to gently place the wine glass on the counter as she passed, not cracking it like she would usually do around others she didn’t care much for. She had to be a good guest if she was going to see how this story ended.

The youngling stopped at her feet and she took a moment to look down at him. He looked back up with a tilt of his head, then smiled and waved a hand. 

She couldn’t stop herself from chuckling at the sight, then bent town to ruffle the fur on his head. “Nice to meet you too, kid. Maybe Stricklander can actually make a decent troll out of you with the help of that human, huh?” The youngling peeped in response as she stood up straight and walked towards the door. “You got your hands full with this one Stricklander, be sure to have a little fun along the way, because this one is destined to be a troublemaker!” With that being said, she closed the door behind her and made her way back to her own home, unable to get those mischievous eyes out of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a quick tidbit I’ll like to add, Jim likes to play the villain. Not because he would actually do any of those evil things, but because he just enjoys it. This will come more into play later... heehee


End file.
